Northern Rail: our trains will get even busier but we can't do anything about it

[WatcherZero]

Return ticket back to the route her original ticket was valid for. I dont know what her origin was but presumably it wasnt through Greater Manchester as it would have been a lot cheaper if it did

He did nicely write down all the connections she had to make to get to Norwich though.

 

[Moonshot]

Says in the article passengers on the Bolton line decreased in December as passengers chose to use services via Chat Moss instead, which was what the two Tocs expected anyway.

Two people standing due to no seats on the Scottish TPE 185 service to Manchester Airport I rode this morning though the Barrow service back was only half full. The TPE services in general are still more crowded than I expected after seasonal adjustment, Im getting more and more worried that single 350's wont be able to cope in a couple of years time.

(Interesting anaecdote, was a Dutch girl on the Barrow service who thought she was on her way to Norwich, poor guard had to explain she had to double back and charged her £15 for her mistake)

As I m actually working at Bolton , I have to say that in general, the TPE services are busy going both ways no matter what time of day. ButI ve still yet to see any evidence of passengers left behind on platforms, which considering the frequency of services through the station , is not something that is likely anyway...

 

[northwichcat]

Return ticket back to the route her original ticket was valid for. I dont know what her origin was but presumably it wasnt through Greater Manchester as it would have been a lot cheaper if it did

He did nicely write down all the connections she had to make to get to Norwich though.

I don't follow. Assuming she boarded the wrong train at Piccadilly or Oxford Road (where there is both a Norwich and Barrow service) then shouldn't the guard have charged a maximum of the peak return fare from Manchester to where she alighted the Barrow service, even if her ticket was something like Chester to Norwich with a change at Manchester?

 

[WatcherZero]

As I said I dont know her origin, she boarded at Piccadilly and exited at Wigan (having missed an opportunity to get off at Oxford Road) however if she had gone wrong there then even a peak return would have been less than a £15 and change addendum. I presume she must have started somewhere in the north east and wasnt supposed to go through Manchester at all.

The amusement of the story was someone being on a Barrow train while thinking they were on their way to Norwich, she didnt know her mistake until the guard checked her ticket.

 

[northwichcat]

As I said I dont know her origin, she boarded at Piccadilly and exited at Wigan (having missed an opportunity to get off at Oxford Road) however if she had gone wrong there then even a peak return would have been less than a £15 and change addendum. I presume she must have started somewhere in the north east and wasnt supposed to go through Manchester at all.

The amusement of the story was someone being on a Barrow train while thinking they were on their way to Norwich, she didnt know her mistake until the guard checked her ticket.

As Wigan-Leeds is £35.50 return I doubt she had deviated that far off the route.

Maybe the £15 was the fare from Manchester to Wigan combined with a change of route excess?

 

[HowardGWR]

As I said I dont know her origin, she boarded at Piccadilly and exited at Wigan (having missed an opportunity to get off at Oxford Road) however if she had gone wrong there then even a peak return would have been less than a £15 and change addendum. I presume she must have started somewhere in the north east and wasnt supposed to go through Manchester at all.

The amusement of the story was someone being on a Barrow train while thinking they were on their way to Norwich, she didnt know her mistake until the guard checked her ticket.

I don't think there is any amusement at all (not for me anyway). In the old days (see my monikker) she would have been treated like the valued customer she is and helped back (in fairness the guard did that) and certainly not charged for going the wrong way, especially a visitor. What are we coming to? Thanks for the anecdote though. Tut, tut.

 

[northwichcat]

I don't think there is any amusement at all (not for me anyway). In the old days (see my monikker) she would have been treated like the valued customer she is and helped back (in fairness the guard did that) and certainly not charged for going the wrong way, especially a visitor. What are we coming to? Thanks for the anecdote though. Tut, tut.

The only times I've heard the guard telling someone they are on the wrong train going in a different direction was once between Manchester and Stockport when the guard told them to get off at Stockport and go back. The other time someone got a Buxton train wanting a station on the Hope Valley Line, the guard advised him he could either go back at Stockport or alight at New Mills and walk between the two stations, he opted for the latter.

Looking at the train times in the afternoon there is a Cleethorpes departure at exactly the same time as a Barrow departure, so the passenger might have read a wrong platform number on the display showing all destinations (opposed to one of the displays showing the final destinations only), seen a TPE train and assumed it was correct one.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This curent discussion brought to mind the old music-hall song..."Oh Mr Porter! "

 

[Darren R]

This curent discussion brought to mind the old music-hall song..."Oh Mr Porter! "

I don't think Will Hay ended up at Barrow-in-Furness though!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I don't think Will Hay ended up at Barrow-in-Furness though!

Well, on that same line, was it also not the case that a suburban housewife from The Home Counties claimed that she had just gone to visit her local library in "Brief Encounter".....and ended up on Carnforth station...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You make reference to the film with Will Hay, but my original comment referred back much further in time, to the music-hall song that was sung by Marie Lloyd.

 

[northwichcat]

I don't think Will Hay ended up at Barrow-in-Furness though!

The song made reference to Birmingham and Crewe yet Will Hay took over management of a station in Ireland in the film.

 

[Monty]

The song made reference to Birmingham and Crewe yet Will Hay took over management of a station in Ireland in the film.

And it was filmed on the Southern.

 

[Darren R]

The song made reference to Birmingham and Crewe yet Will Hay took over management of a station in Ireland in the film.

Indeed - Buggleskelly to be precise!

I promise I shall try to get out more in 2014!

 

[northwichcat]

Back to the original topic. With Northern switching the Hazel Grove-Preston diagrams (so that a 2 car 150 and 4 car 150 are the other away around) and changing an Airport-Southport diagram from a 2 car 156 to a 4 car 150 (not sure where they robbed the extra unit from) TfGM are satisfied that currently there aren't any services on the Bolton corridor which are too overcrowded at the current time. However, they will be looking at how things will be affected from the May timetable change.

 

[WatcherZero]

Indeed, though alarmingly the new TPE services are already 'comfortably standing'

 

[Greybeard33]

An update on the Bolton corridor.

The 06:35 Chester-Stockport and 08:32 Hazel Grove-Preston (highest loading 196) are to be de-strengthened to be a single 150 which will allow the 08:21 Preston-Hazel Grove to be 4 carriages instead of 2.

Back to the original topic. With Northern switching the Hazel Grove-Preston diagrams (so that a 2 car 150 and 4 car 150 are the other away around) and changing an Airport-Southport diagram from a 2 car 156 to a 4 car 150 (not sure where they robbed the extra unit from) TfGM are satisfied that currently there aren't any services on the Bolton corridor which are too overcrowded at the current time. However, they will be looking at how things will be affected from the May timetable change.

I rode on the 06:35 Chester-Stockport on Friday 31 Jan and it was still a 4-car 150, so has this particular idea been abandoned?

 

[northwichcat]

I rode on the 06:35 Chester-Stockport on Friday 31 Jan and it was still a 4-car 150, so has this particular idea been abandoned?

Not sure. TPE are revising services in a couple of weeks time so maybe that change was intended to coincide with those changes.

 

[harz99]

Travelled from Buxton yesterday on the 1429 Manchester service which was formed of 6 cars, leading was a 150/1, next another 150/1, followed by a 150/2.

Only the leading 150/1 was being used for passengers, so the following 4 carriages had carried fresh air all the way to and from Buxton.

Talk about a waste of fuel, unit mileage and of course unnecessary pollution!

 

[northwichcat]

Travelled from Buxton yesterday on the 1429 Manchester service which was formed of 6 cars, leading was a 150/1, next another 150/1, followed by a 150/2.

Only the leading 150/1 was being used for passengers, so the following 4 carriages had carried fresh air all the way to and from Buxton.

Talk about a waste of fuel, unit mileage and of course unnecessary pollution!

That's down to Northern being limited on the number of units they can stable at Piccadilly so they move some down to Buxton after the morning peak and some back up to Piccadilly in time for the evening peak.

For practical purposes the service is booked for a 2 car Sprinter and there's also a 4 car Sprinter ECS working attached to the back of it to save on having 2 drivers.